Domain Appraisal Scam Email
A couple days after i put my domain name into auction on sedo.com and submitting the promo link into discussion forums, then i got this email, from the guys name Robert Norton.
DM Software Solutions <info@damemagnet.com> wrote:
Hello,
What is the price in US dollars or euros you can
accept for your domain name?Our company develops software in Visual C++ and
Delphi. We work as contractors.If you offer more domains for sale with good
reselling potential please email us your list.Looking forward to do business with you.
Regards,
Robert Norton, Ph. D.
CEO
DM Software Solutions
Wow, i got a prospective buyer for my offering domain name.
so i answer the price for domain, i put $500 in the board.
and then the day after, i got 2nd reply on my offering price for the domain name.
500 USD. Ok.
Do you sell the name only without web site? I’m
interested in the name so web site is not so
important.Do you have an appraisal certificate for your domain
name?Domain name is an investment for me. In other words
I’m going to sell your name later and make a profit.
If I overpay I won’t be able to make a profit in the
future. It’s very important for you and me to know
the current market value of your domain.Of course, we must be sure that you are engaging a
reputable appraisal company. I heard many appraisal
companies often made inaccurate appraisals. I will
only accept appraisals from independent sources I
trust. To avoid mistakes I asked domain experts
about reputable appraisal companies in a forum
http://domaintalk.ourplace.com/Archive/296814.htmJust check this posting.
If the appraisal comes higher you can adjust your
asking price accordingly. I also hope you can give
me 10% - 15% discount of the appraised value.After I get an appraisal from you we’ll continue our
negotiations.How do you prefer to get paid: www.escrow.com,
www.PayPal.com check or wire?Hope we can come to an agreement fast.
Looking forward to your reply.
Well.. i got a good deal, $500 for a domain name.
got excited here, and then i look into the following forum address pointed by his email.
well.. my $500 is a good deal, but the guy told me that if my domain appraisal is higher than my previous offering price, i can revice my price, wich mean more profit to me.
sound good for me.
then i browse the site, read it carefully, and click the url on the forum page. for their service of domain appraisal.
i got a willing to get an domain appraisal services, but of course i want it from a reputable site. i use sedo.com and godaddy.com , then submit my reply to prospective buyer.
to inform him that i will using godaddy.com domain appraisal services, and it is took a couple day to process.
but his answer make me confuse, with his statement:
I cannot accept cheap automated service from Godaddy.
I wanted to use Afternic.com, but found the following information:
http://www.igoldrush.com/links3.htm
“Capsule Review: After lots of complaints, Afternic is no longer a
recommended service. We will re-review the service in the near future.”I also found the following information about them
http://www.out-law.com/page-1630So Afternic.com is NOT acceptable.
Reading responses from experienced sellers I was impressed by one reply:
“Many Internet users are not smart enough and popular domain brokers are
using this fact to make money. They offer them cheap appraisal services. But
if their customers would have something in their heads they’d understand
experts could not make a professional research for $15-$20. These appraisals
are made by machines. Easy money for such appraisers as
http://www.Afternic.com and several other major brokers that offer cheap
auto-generated appraisals. In my eyes, all services under $50-$55 are not
manual and the results are generated by special scripts. I don’t trust
auto-generated appraisals.”The same is true for GoDaddy and SEDO. Their services are not manual. They
are just collecting money using their well-known names.I heard many appraisal companies often overpriced domains. So I cannot
accept appraisal from each and every site.To avoid mistakes I asked about reputable appraisers in a forum. Several
experts recommended me Securenamesale’s appraisal service -
http://www.securenamesale.com/appraise.asp as a fast, accurate and
non-expensive manual service.I also trust the manual appraisal service from http://www.DomainMart.com but
it’s very expensive - $200/hour. This service was also recommended by many
people. If you can afford $200 DomainMart.com’s fee it would be great. They
also provide cheap automated service but it’s not acceptable.
what??
this last email he reply, pealing me to do an investigation upon the site
http://www.securenamesale.com/appraise.asp
i am start to googling, gathering information from the site.
and then i found this interested squidoo lens, http://www.squidoo.com/appraisalscam/
writen by MikeKroger an IT consultant in south africa.
then i try to contact http://domaintalk.ourplace.com/ admin to delete Scam archieve that used by Robert Norton or what ever his name was, but nothing i got unless a dead forums
http://domaintalk.ourplace.com/ => Sorry, our free forum closed for maintenance. New site will be launched soon.
well…
he got me, playing with my emotion, and he foolish me.
but he got no money from me, because iam not using domain appraisal by http://www.securenamesale.com/appraise.asp wich is i assume and really sure 100% that it is his scam website.
ok guys, to All that make a freelance business with selling domain name online.
please be carefull, there some peoples want to gain their profit using un-hounour way, using Scam and a realy dirt way.
Becarefull Dude!
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Simply copy and paste the code below into your web site (Ctrl+C to copy)
It will look like this: Domain Appraisal Scam Email
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Heh heh..I’m so glad that I found this post of yours. That Robert Norton guy also just sent me the exact same email as in your post, but he offered me $3000 instead. I’m a bit suspicious because I told him that I use sedo.com, yet his answer is like someone who doesn’t know anything about domain trade. So a bit of googling with his email address and lo.. I found your post, confirming my suspicion that this is a sick scam..Thanks for putting this post, I owe you some domain appraisal cost
Comment by yunanfa — April 8, 2007 @ 1:39 am
I just got the same email from Robert Norton PHD from DM Software Solutions. I am so glad I found this post. He offered $10000-15000 on names that were not worth $10. I smelled scam right away.
Thanks!
Comment by blurayguy — April 10, 2007 @ 6:33 am
Robert Norton is now known as Andrew Norton, I almost exactly the same thing this week, but I responded by saying if he felt a domain name appraisal was necessary, then he is welcomed to do it himself. I’ve just blogged about it on my own blog.
Comment by Isofarro — April 14, 2007 @ 4:30 pm
Received exactly the same email and replies. But I was just playing since I’d altready read this post.
Thanks so much,
Comment by IEzy — April 14, 2007 @ 6:42 pm
i’m glad that my article are usefull for others, keep watch on this kind scam, and spread to other about this atricle, and hopefuly there is no more victim on domain appraisal scam.
Comment by catur pw — April 14, 2007 @ 6:56 pm
Started my own investigation and found this page. I received the exact emails from: Abram Connelly, CEO, FJO Solutions, .
From the headers:
Received: from mail.bortnet.com (mail.bortnet.com [64.151.110.218])
Received: from otherserver (233.shamparov.mplik.ru [212.23.76.233]) by mail.bortnet.com (Postfix) with ESMTP id 76F9F299C05; Sun, 29 Apr 2007 10:41:44 -0700 (PDT)
Just some info in case someone is trying to find him.
Comment by raebaca — May 12, 2007 @ 1:32 am
Thank youall for posting. I too recieved an email from VIN Tecnologies here is the email address ceo@vinelsker.com which I Googled and at first thought to be reputable.I own boomersseniors.com and I continually get offers for the websits and domain. I thouhgt I was pretty internet savy but if I had not found this post I would have checked into paying for a manual appraisal. He was offering 300,000.00 for the domain if the appraisal came in. I am reporting this guy to all the agencies concerning fraud. Thanks again for this post.
Comment by Larry — June 11, 2007 @ 10:57 pm
Hello cyberspace, just got this mail… guess it´s the same guy?
Hello
We are interested in (my domain)
Your name was listed for sale. Please let us know your price.
We are working as contractors in IT industry (database protection and intrusion protection systems).
So investing in names is just a part of our investment strategy.
Looking forward to do business with you.
Merry Christmas to you and your family!
Regards,
Andrew Daley
Vice President
ITR Consulting
Comment by tim — January 4, 2008 @ 10:14 pm
If it sounds to good to be tru it probably is.
Seems like Mr. Robert Norton has changed his name to Sean Daley of ITR Security. He asked me to get an evaluation from Domainssecondhand.com. Everything else was word for word exactly as you have described herein. You guys rock! Thanks for confirming this scam. I think I’ll copy and past this into an emailreply I’ll send off to him.
Nestvman
Comment by Nestor — January 6, 2008 @ 11:42 am
He now goes by the name “Andrew Daley” from ITR Consulting… He offered me $19,800 for my domain name and he also directed me to the same dead forum mentioned above. The forum posts subtlety suggested that I get my domain appraised via http://www.domainssecondhand.com. I am glad I stumbled across this information before doing anything stupid.
-MSG.1——————————————-
“Hello,
We are interested in anarchy-rising.com
Your name was listed for sale. Please let us know your price.
We are working as contractors in IT industry (tabase protection and intrusion protection systems).
So investing in names is just a part of our investment strategy.
Looking forward to do business with you.
Merry Christmas to you and your family!
Regards,
Andrew Daley
Vice President
ITR Consulting”
-MSG.2——————————————-
Hello,
I wish you and your family a Happy New 2008 Year!
Can you accept 19,800 USD?
Do you sell domain with a web site or just name?
If just name it’s ok. Web site is not necessary.
Have you had your domain names evaluated in the past? I mean domain appraisals.
Without valuation we cannot be sure in the sale price. It’s very important for me in terms of reselling too.
But we must engage a valuation company with REAL manual service. So I will only accept valuations from independent sources I trust.
To avoid mistakes I asked domain experts about reputable appraisal companies in a forum
http://domaintalk.ourplace.com/Archive/730682.htm
Just check this posting.
If, for example, the valuation comes higher you can adjust your asking price accordingly. It will be fair. I also hope you can give me 12% - 15% discount.
After you send me valuation via email (usually it takes 1-2 days to obtain it) we’ll continue our negotiations.
What is your preferred payment method: Escrow.com, International wire
transfer, PayPal.com or something else?
Hope we can come to an agreement fast.
Looking forward to your reply.
I wish you and your family a Happy New 2008 Year!
————————————————-
Comment by ScamBuster101 — January 11, 2008 @ 10:16 am
He sent this to me via the following email address:
itrsecurity@phreaker.net
Comment by ScamBuster101 — January 11, 2008 @ 10:19 am
oh my god, thanks I read this post. I got too…
Comment by vankojo — January 17, 2008 @ 7:19 am
Thank you thank you thank you!! You didn’t just save me money you also saved me time.
He contacted me as “Hegedus” and the message was virtually identical to ScamBuster’s 1/11 message. Signature:
Andrew Hegedus
Vice President
PHT Systems
Comment by Donna — January 30, 2008 @ 6:06 am
received exact same message also from “Hegedus”
Comment by ccc — January 30, 2008 @ 6:23 pm
Here’s another one!
Hello,
We are interested in domain.com
Your name was for sale. Please let me know your price. Our company works on Internet communication software market.
So Internet names is just a part of our investment strategy.
Looking forward to do business with you.
Regards,
John Slaughter
President
TGN Group
Comment by pookie — February 11, 2008 @ 3:47 pm
Oh my God! Thank you so much!!! i’ve received the same email!
Comment by Victor — February 20, 2008 @ 6:43 pm
Thanks a lot for your posts, guys, SO helpful! Today, after listing my domain in SEDO marketplace, very briefly (~ 24 hours before I deleted it), I got exactly the same from… “Scheerer”
Hello,
After visiting several domain auctions I’ve found several good names including your *****.net. What is your price?
Buying and selling domains is not a main direction of our business. But since domain market is very hot now, buying and selling domain names is a good income opportunity. We have a large database of clients who are interested in Inernet projects.
Looking forward to do business with you.
Regards,
David Scheerer
CEO
PRH Software
And then later, after my reply inviting him to make an offer:
“Can you accept 10,000 USD?
(WOW! such generous offer; I just registered it recently, made me very proud of my CHOOSING talent, hee hee)
Do you sell domain with a web site or just the name?
Domain without content is ok with me. Web site is not necessary.
Have you had your domain names evaluated in the past? I mean domain appraisals.
Without valuation we cannot be sure in the sale price. It’s very important for me in terms of reselling too.
But we must engage a valuation company with REAL manual service. So I will only accept valuations from independent sources I trust.
To avoid mistakes I asked domain experts about reputable appraisal companies.
Please check this posting from archive:
http://domaintalk.007sites.com/Archive/290106.htm
If, for example, the valuation comes higher you can adjust your asking price accordingly. It will be fair. I also hope you can give me 12% - 15% discount.
After you send me the valuation via email (usually it takes 1-2 days to obtain it) we’ll continue our negotiations.
What is your preferred payment method: Escrow.com, International wire transfer, PayPal.com or something else?
Hope we can come to an agreement fast.
Looking forward to your reply.”
After which I, of course, googled ‘Domain Appraisal Services’, and very fast luckily found your comments!
Comment by Newbie — March 29, 2008 @ 3:49 am
WTF! i got this mail too: has he changed his name to Jorge piderman.. I hate scammers! I owe you the world! Im not going to buy any apprasials
Hello,
We are interested in domain.com
After visiting several domain auctions I’ve found several good names including your . What is your price?
Buying and selling domains is not a main direction of our business. But since domain market is very hot now, buying and selling domain names is a good income opportunity. We have a large database of clients who are interested in Inernet projects.
Looking forward to do business with you.
Regards,
Jorge Piderman
Vice President
PHR Consulting
Comment by Per-Kristian — April 1, 2008 @ 10:51 pm
Hi!
I got the same crazy shit from SCHEERER and no PIDERMAN! I think some people don’t know what to do with their time….
Comment by Angry Bob — April 4, 2008 @ 5:03 pm
Heres another scam email sent by the same person 24 hours after posting the listing. We are not that dumb to fall for this crap!!
Hello,
We are interested in hyshotrocket.com
After visiting several domain auctions I’ve found several good names including your . What is your price?
Buying and selling domains is not a main direction of our business. But since domain market is very hot now, buying and selling domain names is a good income opportunity. We have a large database of clients who are interested in Inernet projects.
Looking forward to do business with you.
Regards,
Jorge Piderman
Vice President
PHR Consulting
Comment by Big Red — April 6, 2008 @ 7:22 pm
The dude cannot spell which made me investigate.Typical Nigerian scam.
Comment by Big Red — April 6, 2008 @ 7:32 pm
Add
Harold Peterson
Chief Information Officer
PRK Software
as another id used in this scam.
Comment by redline — April 15, 2008 @ 11:33 pm
Hello everyone!
Well I just received and email from Harold Peterson
Chief Information Officer
PRK Software asking me about a particular domain that I own. So I thought why not google him only to reach this website that tells me that he is a good scammer. thank you freelance- database.
Comment by Ronaldo Wayne — April 17, 2008 @ 5:32 am
Bugger! I just got a similar email but from
Harold Peterson
Chief Information Officer
PRK Software
I thought I was going to make a few dollars finally until I read these posts. Thanks for posting people.
Comment by domainiac — April 17, 2008 @ 8:24 am
I just found a great site to protect from being scammed. Its http://www.EmailScamLetters.com - to get letest email scams. Its an online searchable database and central reporting resource for scam emails. EmailScamLetters.com report the latest scams, including Email scams, Lottery Scams, Phishing, Identify Theft, Employment & Auction Scams and other Internet Fraud received by email. This site is updated daily. The database is available to law enforcement agencies around the world to conduct online investigations into reported scam emails. Visitors may report scams by signing up for an account and submitting scam emails directly to its database!
Comment by Jenny — April 19, 2008 @ 9:08 pm
Hello,
After checking domains for sale sites I’ve found your domain for sale anabolicedge.us. So what is your price?
Buying and selling domains is not our only business. But domain aftermarket is hot now, so we are always interested in domain names.
Looking forward to do business with you.
Regards,
Harold Peterson
Chief Information Officer
PRK Software
Comment by Crumb — April 29, 2008 @ 5:56 am
2008/5/3 TNGTech :
Hello,
We’ve have visited several online auctions. We are very interested in your domain name xxxxxxxx.com.
Just email me your price and we will consider it.
Of course, domain reselling is not a main direction of our business (we develop software). But domain aftermarket is hot now, so we are always interested in domain names.
Looking forward to do business with you.
Regards,
Emmett Hodges
President
TngTech Consulting
Comment by Another Scam — May 13, 2008 @ 3:40 am
And yet another;
Hello,
We’ve have visited several online auctions. We are very interested in your domain name xxxxxxx.com.
Just email me your price and we will consider it.
Of course, domain reselling is not a main direction of our business (we develop software). But domain aftermarket is hot now, so we are always interested in domain names.
Looking forward to do business with you.
Regards,
Emmett Hodges
Chief Executive Officer
PHR Software
Comment by victim — May 17, 2008 @ 8:33 pm
Exact same kind of mail i 2 received and i replied exactly same as the poster did, I suspect this guy must be an affiliate with the w@w.EasyNameSale#com, Because he alwasy use to force me to complete an appraisal with this site. in this site its asking 60 euros to complete an appraisal.. Be carefu with this type of stupid affiliates…. if some have any idea how to block a scam site, Just do it for the sake of domain business people. some details regarding this stupid scammer
Mail Received from : tngtech@phreaker.net
Name mentioned as : TNG Techno Services
Remaining details : Andrew Hodges
Vice President
TNG Techno Services
Comment by Siva Kumar — May 21, 2008 @ 5:12 pm
I was contacted in a similar manner and knew right away it was a scam, but I kept him interested for fun. Then I sent him the URL to this post and never heard from him again.
Comment by allan — June 20, 2008 @ 10:51 pm